nonplural

Nonplural is a term encountered in linguistics and language-technology contexts to describe a noun that does not take a plural form in ordinary usage. In mainstream grammar this phenomenon is usually described with established terms such as uncountable (mass) nouns or singularia tantum, rather than under a separate category called nonplural. As such, nonplural is more a descriptive label used in dictionaries, corpora, or computational tools than a formal theory of grammar.

Uncountable nouns denote substances, qualities, or collections treated as a single whole and are not normally counted with plural markers. Examples include information, equipment, furniture, bread, water, and sand. These nouns can sometimes appear in plural constructions in specific contexts (for instance when distinguishing types or instances or in poetic uses), but in standard usage they do not take a plural suffix on their own and do not combine with numerals in the same way as countable nouns.

Some nouns may be considered singularia tantum, meaning they exist only in the singular form in ordinary language, while others are uncountable but can be pluralized in specialized senses, such as when referring to multiple bodies of water. The concept of nonplural is therefore closely related to, but distinct from, uncountability and the singularia/pluralia tantum distinctions in linguistics.

In computational linguistics and natural-language generation, marking a noun as nonplural can guide pluralization rules to avoid producing plural forms where they are not appropriate.